Online Gameshttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/online-games
en-usWed, 13 Dec 2017 21:29:00 -0500Wed, 13 Dec 2017 21:29:00 -0500The latest news on Online Games from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/chipotle-is-giving-away-free-burritos-again-to-customers-who-play-an-online-game-2016-10Chipotle is giving away free burritos again to customers who play an online gamehttp://www.businessinsider.com/chipotle-is-giving-away-free-burritos-again-to-customers-who-play-an-online-game-2016-10
Thu, 13 Oct 2016 02:29:00 -0400Rick Munarriz
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/578e75ba88e4a78c148b9226-871/chipotle a love story.png" alt="chipotle a love story" data-mce-source="YouTube" data-link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKleQ1MXMCs" /></p><p>This has been the year of&nbsp;Chipotle Mexican Grill&nbsp;giveaways as it tries to win back customers.</p>
<p>The latest offer is a BOGO entree mobile coupon after playing the burrito roller's new online game.</p>
<p>Just like <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/22/free-guacamole-is-chipotles-secret-weapon-to-win-y.aspx">the Guac Hunter game</a> that the chain introduced in March -- where freebie seekers had to spot differences in a digital photo hunt to win a free order of chips and guacamole -- the actual quality of the game won't impress you.</p>
<p>A Love Story Game is just an online version of the Concentration card game where folks have to score matching sets before the clock runs out.</p>
<p>And just like Guac Hunter you don't have to win to nab the freebie. Playing the game and then offering up your name and mobile phone number is all it takes to land a digital coupon code for a free burrito, bowl, salad, or order of tacos with the purchase of a second entree.&nbsp;</p>
<p>There's a flimsy educational component to the game. You're trying to match all-natural ingredients. Flip over a card for an artificial color or flavoring and you will be have a few seconds knocked off of the timer. It's a shell of a lesson. Chipotle just wants to get you to come back with a half-priced meal for two.</p>
<p>Tethering it to its "food with integrity" message or<a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/08/3-things-to-notice-about-chipotles-new-ad.aspx">a&nbsp;short film it rolled out</a> over the summer is just window dressing. Chipotle may be an educator, but like an overmatched substitute teacher trying to wrestle back control of a rowdy class, it's a desperate one.</p>
<h2>Putting the "free" in sofritas</h2>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/57eeb7965124c96f586bb56f-800/fidelity-contrafund-continues-to-slash-stake-in-struggling-chipotle-2016-9.jpg" alt="A Chipotle Mexican Grill is seen in Los Angeles, California, U.S. on April 25, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="A Chipotle Mexican Grill is seen in Los Angeles" /></p>
<p>Chipotle's still smarting. It likely wrapped up its fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit negative comps, a sad feat that even bad restaurant chains rarely achieve. If sales are taking it on the chin, profitability is getting sucker punched even lower.</p>
<p>Margins are getting squeezed as Chipotle discounts aggressively and pays up to improve its food safety procedures. Chipotle posted its first quarterly deficit as a public company during this year's first quarter, followed up by an 82% year-over-year plunge in net income during the second quarter.&nbsp;</p>
<p>From burritos to a side of chips, it seems as if there has always been some form of giveaway or promotion going on at any given time this year. Last month it culminated with free fountain beverages for high school and college students and free kid meals on Sundays.</p>
<p>This was all happening during the third and final month of its Chiptopia program where repeat customers would be rewarded with a free meal every fourth visit in any given month. Three freebies at the same time in September may have seemed like overkill, but it was a shrewd multi-point attack to court diehard fans, social media-influenced millennials, and young families concerned about food safety.</p>
<p>The only real surprise about the new BOGO game that Chipotle introduced yesterday is that it wasn't the permanent customer rewards program that everyone figured would follow Chiptopia's summertime run. The game also chose to promote a video it put out three months ago instead of playing up the chorizo that it introduced nationwide last week.</p>
<p>Right now the goal is to get traffic levels back up, something that should be easier starting next month when the year-over-year comparisons will get easier since the comps slide started last November. When margins and earnings growth matter we'll see Chipotle pulling different levers.</p>
<p>Enjoy the freebies now as a customer, and hope that they pay off come tomorrow as a shareholder.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chipotle-is-giving-away-free-burritos-again-to-customers-who-play-an-online-game-2016-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/money-save-invest-401k-millionaire-2016-12">How much money you need to save each day to become a millionaire by age 65</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-people-love-disneys-infinity-video-game-2014-6Here's Why People Love Disney's 'Infinity' Video Gamehttp://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-people-love-disneys-infinity-video-game-2014-6
Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:27:00 -0400Karyne Levy
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/539a3e32ecad044a61ff6c0e-480-/jack-sparrow-disney-infinity-4.jpg" border="0" alt="jack sparrow disney infinity" width="480" /></p><p>Disney's video game unit was struggling. It lost $1.4 billion from fiscal year 2008 to 2013.&nbsp;</p>
<p>So the company decided to take a different approach to gaming. Rather than making standalone games, which are expensive to make and market, Disney followed the "Skylanders" model and launched "Disney Infinity" in August.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>"Infinity" &mdash; and "Skylanders" before it &mdash; isn't just a video game; it incorporates physical toys from Disney and Pixar films that interact with what's on the screen. And you can even mesh the characters from different movies together. &nbsp;</span></p>
<p>Before "Infinity," the hits coming out of Disney Interactive were few and far between. The first "Kingdom Hearts" game,&nbsp;<span>which merged classic Disney characters and storylines from "The Lion King," "Beauty and the Beast," and more, with characters from Square Enix's "Final Fantasy" franchise, </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/whats-going-wrong-with-disneys-interactive-segment-2012-9" target="_blank">became one of the best-selling PlayStation 2 games in the U.S.</a>&nbsp;It was followed by several sequels.</p>
<p>Later came "Epic Mickey," which was a moderate success, selling 1.3 million units in its first few months alone. <a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/trouble-in-the-magic-kingdom-epic-mickey-2-bombs-at-retail/#!03va3" target="_blank">But the sequel, "Epic Mickey 2," bombed</a>: it only sold 270,000 copies between its debut in November 2012 and the end of 2013.</p>
<p>Disney needed a boost. And it seems "Infinity" was just the thing to do it.</p>
<p>Last month the company reported global revenue of $550 million for "Infinity." The company told Reuters that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-disney-sees-infinity-video-game-hitting-1-billion-in-revenue-2014-12" target="_blank">it expects revenues to reach $1 billion</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"Infinity" was released originally for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U, and 3DS. It was later released for PCs and there's even an iPad version.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Gameplay Basics</h2>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/539f55ac6bb3f71f444f64c1-1200-924/disneyinfinity_lonerangerset.jpg" border="0" alt="Disney Infinity 'Lone Ranger' set" width="300" /></p>
<p>There are two different modes: Play Set mode and Toy Box mode. In Play Set, you play through the game as different characters from each film, such as Captain Jack Sparrow from "Pirates of the Caribbean." You then go through a specific campaign, based on the film you're playing.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The game knows which pieces you'd like to play because you place a special disk into the Infinity Base. One or two players can play in this mode.&nbsp;</p>
<p>You can't mix players from different films in Play Set mode. If you want Lightning McQueen to hang out with Mr. Incredible, however, you play Toy Box mode.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Toy Box is what's known as an open sandbox, in video game lingo. In this mode, you can build your own world, mix and match players, and basically just roam around and discover new things.</p>
<p>This is also where you interact with stuff you unlocked in Play Set mode, such as vehicles and weapons. This mode also supports online multiplayer, so you can play with people who aren't even physically in the same room as you.</p>
<h2>Why It Works</h2>
<p>The game is more than just a game; it's also about collecting figurines.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/disney-infinity-review/1900-6413555/" target="_blank">As GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd wrote when the game was released</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, "'</span>Disney Infinity' isn't just a game, but a platform as well &mdash; in this case, a platform designed to keep you spending money."</p>
<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/53a325aeecad04160225a673/infinity.gif" border="0" alt="Disney Infinity" /></p>
<p>The game boosted Disney's interactive unit to post a $14 million profit, which was its third consecutive quarterly profit.&nbsp;And in 2013, it was one of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/business/media/disneys-troubled-gaming-unit-finds-success-with-infinity.html?_r=0" target="_blank">10 best-selling games in the U.S.</a>, according to the New York Times.</p>
<p>Every movie that comes out is a potential goldmine.</p>
<p>A starter pack, which includes the game, base, and some figurines, will set you back around $75. Then there are play sets you can buy, which have a couple different characters. Those cost around $30. And individual figurines cost around $15.&nbsp;</p>
<p>That's not to mention all the accessories, like special "Infinity"-themed game controllers and "base protectors" you can get.&nbsp;</p>
<p>At the unveiling of "Infinity" in January 2013, Pixar's chief creative officer, John Lasseter, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAEX9B5YFik" target="_blank">described what draws people to the game, and its future potential</a>:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">They call it a toy chest. It has all your toys. You pull out your play sets. You just do whatever you want.&nbsp;To me, I also look at it as a tool chest for creativity that we're giving everybody.&nbsp;<strong>What's staggering is not what's happening with it right now, but the potential of what's going to happen in the future.</strong> When it gets out there in the hands of kids, and adults, of creative people and just getting off and rearing stuff and creating stories and juxtapositions that we can't even imagine now, that's what's so exciting and I've never seen that before in any game for this level of quality and aesthetic and beauty and fun.</p>
<p>Lasseter even joked that "Infinity" might even be tempting for Disney fans who aren't necessarily video game players.</p>
<p>"I do want you to notice how cool these [figures] are, folks," he said. "Even if you're not into video games, baby, you've gotta have these."&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/53a8b99cecad0484223293c3/disney-infinity.gif" border="0" alt="Disney Infinity" /></p>
<p>And this is just the beginning.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Disney will launch the next version of the game, "Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes," in the fall. This will bring Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and others, as well as Disney originals, like Maleficent from the new live-action movie, and Merida from the film "Brave."</p>
<p>And others want in on the party. Nintendo&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-nintendo-characters-come-to-life-through-new-models-at-e3-2014-10" target="_blank">showed off its entrant in the "toys-to-life" category of gaming, called Amiibo,</a>&nbsp;at this year's E3 conference. Nintendo hopes Amiibo help boost sales of its dying Wii U game console.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Hey, if it worked for the House of Mickey, then Nintendo bets it can work for the House of Mario, as well. &nbsp;</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mountain-video-game-2014-6" >The man who created the video game in the movie 'Her' is making a game in real life</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-people-love-disneys-infinity-video-game-2014-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/a-gamer-is-pretending-to-be-president-barack-obama-on-titanfall-2014-3A Gamer Is Doing An Incredible Job Impersonating President Obama On ‘Titanfall’http://www.businessinsider.com/a-gamer-is-pretending-to-be-president-barack-obama-on-titanfall-2014-3
Wed, 26 Mar 2014 11:24:00 -0400Andy Moore
<p>A guy recently took to&nbsp;<em>Titanfall</em>&lsquo;s online community to show off a super-credible President Obama impression. It&rsquo;s not really the voice that makes it, though; it&rsquo;s his quick comebacks to pretty much everything the gamers throw at him, from questions about Justin Bieber&rsquo;s deportation to who killed JFK. He&rsquo;s almost fun enough to not make you hit mute.</p>
<p>Here&rsquo;s part one:</p>
<p><iframe width="620" height="360" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VsKtjwQaA5k?rel=0"></iframe></p>
<p>Part two:</p>
<p><iframe width="620" height="360" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZCQ2AD-JQxw?rel=0"></iframe></p>
<p>And part three:</p>
<p><iframe width="620" height="360" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DmSDNACqSQY?rel=0"></iframe></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/titanfall-story-of-xbox-ones-cool-new-game-2014-3" >The Future Of The Xbox One Is Riding On This Insane, Next-Generation Shoot-Em-Up Game</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-gamer-is-pretending-to-be-president-barack-obama-on-titanfall-2014-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabian-prince-tech-entrepreneur-2013-7Meet The Saudi Prince Who Passed Up A Life Of Luxury To Become A Tech Entrepreneurhttp://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabian-prince-tech-entrepreneur-2013-7
Mon, 05 Aug 2013 11:36:00 -0400Liz O'Connor
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/51f81c2269bedd061b00000f-500-/fahad-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Fahad 3" width="500" style="float: right;" /></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Royals <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/royal-heirs-who-will-rule-the-world-2013-7">have been making a splash in the news lately</a>, but there's one prince who's stayed out of the spotlight.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Prince Fahad bin Faisal Al Saud is a grandson of the brother of the Saudi Arabian king.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He could easily be living the high life at home in Saudi Arabia, but instead he's made a name for himself as a tech entrepreneur and social media evangelist.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">After graduating from Stanford with a degree in&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Mechanical Engineering (and a double minor in Management Science and Middle Eastern Studies), Prince Fahad was hired as the Head of User Operations for Facebook Arab, where he helped launch of Facebook in Arabic in 2009.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"<span>Facebook is the reason I'm not going for an MBA right now. Facebook was my MBA. Facebook was my PhD," said Fahad in an interview with Business Insider. "[Working at Facebook] was the most educational opportunity I ever could have asked for. It was amazing to be working on a project that could change people's lives."</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">And change lives it did. Since the dawn of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/arab-spring">Arab Spring</a> in late 2010, there's been much talk of the role that social media, particularly Facebook, has played in various revolutions across the Arab World. But&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Fahad sees Facebook as a vehicle for social change rather than an independent force. "</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Social media is a tool," he said.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"It's no different than the telephone, the television, a hammer.</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;But it has forced a lot of people to be more transparent and to be held accountable for what they say."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He also sees social media as helping to drive job creation in the Middle East and around the world. "</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">It gave a lot of people opportunities for work, creation, innovation, startups. We have a huge generation of entrepreneurs who wouldn't have had that opportunity without these social networks," he said.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Since leaving Facebook in August 2011 he's also helped found several tech startups, including&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.na3mgames.com/">Na3M Games</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;and&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.appiphanyinc.com/">Appiphany</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Na3M (New Arabic Media) focuses on creating multi-platform games with an Arabic twist.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"We wanted to create content that focused on our identity and culture as Arabs," said Fahad. "It's a great feeling to be proud of something that you have contributed to and that has helped to empower the region."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Appiphany makes slick apps that are like catnip&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">for social media junkies. One of their most popular apps is </span><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instafeed/id632821847?mt=8">InstaFeed</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, a program that allows Instagram users to divide the friends they follow into specific "channels" that can be turned on and off.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/51f6a7caeab8ea6732000016-479-804/screen%20shot%202013-07-29%20at%201.34.24%20pm.png" border="0" alt="Appiphany" width="300" /></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He also invested heavily in Popover Games, a maker of cross-platform social-casino games, where he helped to develop a auto-translating chat program that allows players of different languages to communicate via gaming.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"At Popover we wanted to create heritage games, games have been played for centuries and generations around the world but that weren't available to play on Facebook," said Fahad. "The idea was to help communicate cultures and break down language barriers by letting people play games that are culturally significant for them with other players around the world."&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He eventually became a co-founder and saw Popover Games </span><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/01/in-big-social-casino-bet-playsino-acquires-popover-games-and-foghorn-games-exclusive/">sold to casino games-developer Playsino last year</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Fahad currently lives in Los Angeles and consults for the Saudi government on cyber-technology and youth-oriented programs as the Foreign Ministry's Head of Student Affairs, a job he says has been a natural fit. "<span>After being the head of Facebook in Arabic and having that experience, it felt very natural to be asked to advise, especially after things happened with the Arab Spring," he said. "I'm very happy."</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He's just turned 30 and he's a veritable expert on technological growth in the Middle East, but he has a refreshingly funny and youthful attitude.&nbsp;When asked where he would like to see himself in ten years, he said (without a twinge of sarcasm) that he hopes he can have a penthouse on Mars. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But he also hopes to see the Middle East back on top: "I</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">n 10 years I want to see countries in the Arab world back in their rightful place as a global leaders and contributors," he said. "There's an opportunity for me to jump between different industries and I hope to play a part in re-introducing the Middle East to the world in the right way."</span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-fabulous-life-of-prince-alwaleed-2013-3" >How Saudi Prince Alwaleed Spends His Billions</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabian-prince-tech-entrepreneur-2013-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-tablet-vs-desktop-2012-10CHART OF THE DAY: Where The iPad Fails In Comparison To A Normal Computer (AAPL, MSFT)http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-tablet-vs-desktop-2012-10
Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:53:42 -0400Jay Yarow
<p>We teamed up with SurveyMonkey to find out how people use their tablets versus how they use laptops/desktop computers. As the <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/ipad">iPad</a> becomes more and more popular, we want to know what people feel like they can't do with it compared to a traditional computer.</p>
<p>According to our survey, tablets like the iPad are most useful for surfing the web, reading news, social networking, and playing games. It's about tied with traditional computers for email. What is a traditional computer better at? Banking, shopping, creating documents, and doing work related activities.</p>
<p>(Also, for what it's worth 73% of the people that responded to the survey said their tablet was an iPad.)</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/507efc2a69bedd030d000000-940-705/chart-of-the-day-tablet-vs-desktop-activity-oct-2012.jpg?maxX=618" border="0" alt="chart of the day, tablet vs desktop activity, oct 2012" width="618" /></p>
<p><strong>Follow the Chart Of The Day on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/twitter" class="hidden_link">Twitter</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/chartoftheday">@chartoftheday</a></strong></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-tablet-vs-desktop-2012-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/us-state-department-official-killed-in-the-libya-attack-was-a-top-online-gamer-2012-9US State Department Official Killed In Libya Was A Top Online Gamerhttp://www.businessinsider.com/us-state-department-official-killed-in-the-libya-attack-was-a-top-online-gamer-2012-9
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 08:27:00 -0400Michael B Kelley
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/50507be0ecad044767000015/gamer.jpg" border="0" alt="gamer" /></p><p>Sean Smith, the U.S. state department official <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/reports-us-ambassador-to-libya-has-been-killed-in-consulate-attack-2012-9#ixzz26FyTi2IL%20%20">killed along with the U.S. ambassador to Libya and two others</a>&nbsp;last night, was a top player in the online game EVE.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>Smith, an<span>&nbsp;information management officer,&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;was&nbsp;</span><a href="http://themittani.com/news/rip-vile-rat">reportedly</a><span>&nbsp;speaking with fellow gamers when the attack occurred and his friends online&nbsp;</span><strong>were the first to identify him as among the dead</strong><span>.</span></p>
<p>Known online as <a href="https://gate.eveonline.com/Profile/Vile%20rat">Vile Rat</a>, Smith played the game since 2006 and intermittently served&nbsp;on the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRyXDlZKwgA">sci-fi massively multiplayer online</a> (MMO)<em>&nbsp;</em>game's<em>&nbsp;</em>player-elected Council.&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/09/12/eve-online-top-player-was-us-official-killed-in-libya/">In PC Gamer</a> fellow player Marsh Davies described Smith as a "<span>senior figure who held many of the strings that made the game&rsquo;s universe dance.</span>"</p>
<p>A player named The Mittani, who said he was a friend of Smith "<span>both in real life and in internet spaceships</span>" for more than six years, <a href="http://themittani.com/news/rip-vile-rat">wrote a heartfelt blog post</a>&nbsp;that said Smith started out "<span>as one of my agents and [grew] to become <strong>the single most influential diplomat in the history of Eve</strong></span>" as he "<span>touched every aspect of EVE in ways that 99% of the population will never understand.</span>"</p>
<p>He goes on to say that it seems "<span>kind of trivial to praise a husband, father, and overall badass for his skills in an internet spaceship game but that's how most of us know him, so there you go.</span>"</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/50507f776bb3f7c82e00000b/gamer.jpg" border="0" alt="gamer" /></p>
<h2><strong>SEE ALSO:</strong>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/reports-us-ambassador-to-libya-has-been-killed-in-consulate-attack-2012-9#ixzz26G1H5uFE"><span>US Ambassador To Libya And Three Others Killed In Attack On Consulate &gt;</span></a><span><br /></span></h2><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-state-department-official-killed-in-the-libya-attack-was-a-top-online-gamer-2012-9#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/how-this-12-year-old-has-already-created-98-online-games-2012-8How This 12-Year-Old Has Already Created 98 Online Gameshttp://www.businessinsider.com/how-this-12-year-old-has-already-created-98-online-games-2012-8
Wed, 29 Aug 2012 07:59:24 -0400Kathleen Chaykowski
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/503e03726bb3f79a47000044-400-/alex-foyt.jpg" border="0" alt="alex foyt" width="400" /></p><p>Aug. 29 (<a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/bloomberg">Bloomberg</a>) -- Alex Foyt is already a veteran of creating online games at the age of 12, boasting 98 titles in six years, including a survival challenge that involves dodging carrots and chickens falling from the sky.</p>
<p>The secret to Foyt&rsquo;s game-making prowess: He learned coding with a programming language called Lua, which relies on easy-to- understand syntax, before he went on to master more advanced software-development tools.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I really want to be a computer programmer and build my own codes for a living,&rdquo; said Foyt, a resident of Albany, New York, who recently trekked to Santa Clara, California, for a conference sponsored by gaming site Roblox Corp.</p>
<p>Lua is one of a handful of visual coding languages that are helping kids try their hand at software coding amid a boom in online games and applications for devices such as <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/apple">Apple</a> Inc.&rsquo;s <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/iphone">iPhone</a>. The user-friendly tools are being popularized by sites like Roblox, a platform that lets users create and play games with interactive animations from zombies to medieval fortresses. They could be instrumental in helping fill what companies like <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/google">Google</a> Inc. and <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/cisco">Cisco</a> Systems Inc. say is a shortfall in U.S. engineering talent.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The big thing that is slowing the tech sector down is a lack of labor,&rdquo; said Steve Cooper, who teaches computer science at <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/stanford">Stanford University</a>. &ldquo;If you go to a college job fair, employers will call out and say &rsquo;Come over here if you&rsquo;re a computer scientist.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>U.S. Lagging</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Turning kids on to programming early could be crucial for the U.S., which is lagging behind countries such as India and China in its ability to crank out qualified engineers. The U.S. ranks 23rd among developed nations in terms of the percentage of college students receiving undergraduate degrees in science or engineering among those employed between the ages of 25 to 34, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported in 2011.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It starts at elementary school,&rdquo; said Gordon Coburn, president of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., a provider of consulting and outsourcing services. &ldquo;By the time they get to college, they have no math skills. There aren&rsquo;t enough people with the skills and we&rsquo;re hiring as many qualified people as we can find.&rdquo;</p>
<p>While Lua is two decades old, it has taken on new life in recent years because of Roblox. Founded in 2005, the website drew 11 million unique visitors in July, most aged eight to 14, and its users have created more than 8 million games.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Alice, Scratch</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Lua is also used by Corona Labs Inc., which provides a platform for making mobile apps that is gaining traction alongside older entry-level languages such as Alice, which is about 15 years old, and six-year-old Scratch.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In the last few years, we&rsquo;ve seen this explosion of engaging students and in teaching them the basic concepts,&rdquo; said Chris Stephenson, executive director of the Computer Science Teachers Association. &ldquo;Alice, Scratch -- they&rsquo;re becoming incredibly popular because students love them and can do real, creative things with them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Take Robert Nay, a teen from Spanish Fork, Utah, who used the Corona social development kit to build a game called Bubble Ball when he was 14. The game, which requires players to use simple physics principles to get a ball into a goal, has been downloaded more than 15 million times and some weeks has ranked higher than &ldquo;Angry Birds&rdquo; on Apple&rsquo;s App Store.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I just made a game that I wanted to play and I thought it would be fun,&rdquo; Nay said in an interview. &ldquo;For a career I probably want to do something computer-related. As I was learning Corona, I was also learning syntax.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Nay has since learned Java, a more advanced programming language used to build websites, games and applications.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Problem-Solving Skills</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Alice, Scratch and Lua-based platforms help make programming more prevalent among elementary and middle school students and teach them problem-solving skills that translate to other languages such as Python, Java, Ruby and C++, said Brook Osborne, director of outreach at Duke University&rsquo;s department of computer science.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When you understand the concepts of programming and how to think like a developer, learning the syntax isn&rsquo;t a problem anymore,&rdquo; Osborne said.</p>
<p>Some young people are picking up coding skills from online programming classes offered by startups, including Udacity Inc., Codecademy and Coursera Inc. More than 1 million people have taken Codecademy courses since its introduction in August 2011, and elementary school teachers through college professors have used the material in their classrooms, said Codecademy co- founder Zach Sims, who said learning coding is the &ldquo;new literacy.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Kid-Friendly Languages</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By themselves, online courses and kid-friendly languages aren&rsquo;t enough to get many young people up to speed on software, said Stephenson at the Computer Science Teachers Association.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Part of the problem is that the kids who we really want to engage are not necessarily going to go looking for these tools,&rdquo; Stephenson said. &ldquo;We need to provide every kid with the opportunity to know this type of knowledge exists.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Her group advocates introducing computer science classes earlier, in elementary and middle schools. According to a study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of software developers will grow 30 percent from 2010 to 2020. That compares with 14 percent for all occupations, the study found.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We see students coming out of university now overburdened with debt and unable to get jobs,&rdquo; Stephenson said. &ldquo;And we see the computing field desperate for people.&rdquo;</p>
<p><br /> </p>
<p>--With assistance from Sarah Frier in New York. Editors: Tom Giles, Reed Stevenson</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen Chaykowski in New York at kchaykowski@bloomberg.net</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net</p>
<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="http://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT03ZWI4Njk4NDQ1MDFmYmE5NTYxNjliNzI5MzUzNjc2MSZvd25lcj1hODNkNTc2MGMzN2Q3Mjc0MzYyNzkxODhiZmM0MTJkZCZub25jZT1mNWE0NDI1Ni1jNGM0LTRjNGEtYjM5NC0wOTJiMzc1MTk5NzImcHVibGlzaGVyPThjMDBmYmVlNjFkNWJjZjBjNjA5MmQ4YjkyZWJiY2Ex" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-this-12-year-old-has-already-created-98-online-games-2012-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/blizzard-announces-world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria-arriving-september-25-2012-7Blizzard Announces 'World Of Warcraft: Mists Of Pandaria' Arriving September 25http://www.businessinsider.com/blizzard-announces-world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria-arriving-september-25-2012-7
Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:48:00 -0400Ana Douglas
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5010019e6bb3f77134000002-400-300/mists-of-pandaria.jpg" border="0" alt="mists-of-pandaria" width="400" height="300" /></p><p>In an <a href="http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?id=5527445" target="_blank">official press release</a>, Blizzard Entertainment has announced that the highly anticipated fourth expansion set to their&nbsp;<em>hugely</em> successful massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), "World of Warcraft," will be available to buy <a href="http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?id=5527445" target="_blank">September 25</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Blizzard Entertainment <a href="http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?id=5527445" target="_blank">states</a>:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Upon the expansion&rsquo;s release, intrepid explorers of the Alliance and the Horde will be able to set foot upon the shores of the long-lost continent of Pandaria and embark on a perilous journey to uncover its ancient mysteries.</em></p>
<p>The expansion will be available for PC and Mac, and will be sold for a retail price of <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/07/25/world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria-expansion-releasing-septembe/" target="_blank">$39.99</a> (&pound;29.99). Fans can also pick up a special Collector's Edition full of bonus items for <a href="http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/07/25/world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria-expansion-releasing-septembe/" target="_blank">$79.99</a>. The digital pre-sale is already <a href="http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?id=5527445" target="_blank">available online</a>.</p>
<p><span><strong>Mike Morhaime</strong>, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, revealed that "'Mists of Pandaria<em>'</em><span>&nbsp;contains the biggest variety of new content we&rsquo;ve ever created for a '</span>World of Warcraft' e<span>xpansion, with features that will appeal to new players, veterans, and everyone in between."</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>"We&rsquo;ve received a lot of great feedback from players during our most extensive beta test yet, and we hope they enjoy exploring everything Pandaria has to offer when the expansion comes out in September,&rdquo; he added.</span></span></p>
<p><span>You can read the full press release <a href="http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?id=5527445" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></p>
<h2><span>SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ask-men-survey-65-want-to-play-mitt-romney-in-mass-effect-3-because-hes-easier-to-beat-2012-7" target="_blank">65% of people want to play Mitt Romney over other candidates in "Mass Effect 3" &gt;</a></span></h2><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blizzard-announces-world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria-arriving-september-25-2012-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/citzalia-european-parliament-2012-1WELCOME TO CITZALIA: A Tour Of The Empty Online World That Cost The EU $362,000http://www.businessinsider.com/citzalia-european-parliament-2012-1
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:04:00 -0500Adam Taylor
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4f28009069bedd990500002a-400-300/citzalia.jpg" border="0" alt="Citzalia" width="400" height="300" /></p><p>Have you ever wanted so badly to be a Member of the European Parliament but found yourself unable to fulfill your desire to be trapped in endless pan-European bureaucracy?</p>
<p>Well now, you may have your chance.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/shortcuts/2012/jan/30/citzalia-website?newsfeed=true">Citzalia is an online world</a> created with EU-funding that allows you to see the inner workings of the European Parliament.</p>
<h3><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/citzalia-european-parliament-2012-1#welcome-to-citzalia-1">Click here to have a look at Citzalia &gt;</a></h3>
<p>Here's how the makers describe their mission:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Citzalia is a means of understanding how the EU's democratically elected Parliament works. Through participating in debates and writing articles - not to mention drafting virtual legislation - on issues relating to the European Parliament and EU policy, you will gain insight into and expertise on how democracy works in the EU.</em></p>
<p>The makers brag that certain MEPs have signed up for the site and users will be able to interact with them in the online world.<em><br /></em></p>
<p><em></em>We were surprised to see Citzalia in the news yesterday when the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/shortcuts/2012/jan/30/citzalia-website?newsfeed=true">Guardian's Tom Melzor decided to log onto the online world</a>. He found he was the only person there.</p>
<p>Melzor says that the site is finally due to be officially launched next month, though the site appears to be largely operational.</p>
<p>This launch seems well delayed &mdash; way back in 2010 UK politician Jon Worth was invited to tour Citzalia, and he was perturbed by the way that EU funds had been spent, predicting it will become a "ghost town". "Why is the European Parliament spending money on this?" <a href="http://www.jonworth.eu/citzalia-the-virtual-ghost-european-parliament-really-why-spend-money-on-this/">he asked in a blogpost, noting the &euro;275,000 price tag</a>.</p>
<p>So why is the European Parliament spending money on this? We decided to take a tour. We'll let you know our conclusion upfront: its empty, and some stuff doesn't seem to work. We have a hard time picturing people using this for "fun", but <em>perhaps</em> if schoolkids are forced to use it they could well learn something</p><h3>Welcome to Citzalia!</h3>
<img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4f28008169bedd7605000021-400-300/welcome-to-citzalia.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><h3>First I was asked to choose what my avatar looked like.</h3>
<img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4f28007b6bb3f78d21000016-400-300/first-i-was-asked-to-choose-what-my-avatar-looked-like.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><h3>I wanted him to look like this, but it wouldn't load for some reason...</h3>
<img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4f280082ecad04a27f000000-400-300/i-wanted-him-to-look-like-this-but-it-wouldnt-load-for-some-reason.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/citzalia-european-parliament-2012-1#so-i-pressed-random-a-few-times-and-he-looked-like-this-4">See the rest of the story at Business Insider</a> http://www.businessinsider.com/this-startup-just-raised-85-million-to-make-addictive-games-that-will-destroy-your-social-life-2012-1This Startup Just Raised $85 Million To Make Addictive Games That Will Destroy Your Social Lifehttp://www.businessinsider.com/this-startup-just-raised-85-million-to-make-addictive-games-that-will-destroy-your-social-life-2012-1
Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:31:40 -0500Matt Lynley
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4f1852afeab8ea6d3400004b/rift.jpg" border="0" alt="rift" /></p><p>Trion Worlds, the developers behind huge online games like Rift and Defiance, just announced that it raised $85 million in strategic growth equity financing.</p>
<p>It makes the kinds of online games that you can spend hours and days playing over and over again. Think World of Warcraft &mdash; which was so addictive that it has taken shots <a href="http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s10e08-make-love-not-warcraft">from shows like South Park</a> over how long its players stay logged into the world.</p>
<p>They charge monthly subscription fees, unlike companies like <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/zynga">Zynga</a> which rely on sales of virtual goods &mdash; like fake shovels and cows.</p>
<p>Trion Worlds had raised more than $100 million <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/trion-world-network">across three rounds of funding</a> before this one.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/this-startup-just-raised-85-million-to-make-addictive-games-that-will-destroy-your-social-life-2012-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-gives-a-huge-gift-to-the-online-gambling-industry-2011-12Obama Gives A Huge Gift To The Online Gambling Industryhttp://www.businessinsider.com/obama-gives-a-huge-gift-to-the-online-gambling-industry-2011-12
Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:06:00 -0500Gus Lubin
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4ef9dae46bb3f76f70000014/obama.jpg" border="0" alt="obama" /></p><p>A Justice Department opinion<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/gambling-gets-boost-obama-administration-113418228--spt.html"> made public this week</a> provides a huge opening for the online gambling industry.</p>
<p>Online gambling in all forms has been prohibited by the Wire Act of 1961, which forbids gambling via telecommunications across state lines.</p>
<p>The new<strong> <a href="http://www.justice.gov/olc/2011/state-lotteries-opinion.pdf">opinion</a>, however, says that the act applies only to sports betting.</strong></p>
<p>Online lotteries in New York and Illinois are on the table now. This could open the door for online gambling -- which was <a href="http://consumerist.com/2011/04/government-goes-all-in-against-online-poker.html">slammed by the DoJ only months</a>.</p>
<p>Online gambling provides an easy revenue source for beleaguered states. Similarly the DoJ has pursued new revenue by authorizing new powers for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/too-close-to-home-krasting-2011-12">investigating tax dodgers </a>from California to Switzerland.</p>
<h3>Don't miss:<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/10-states-that-reap-the-largest-profits-from-sin-2011-5#10-new-jersey-1"> The 10 States That Make The Most Money From Sin &gt;</a></h3><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-gives-a-huge-gift-to-the-online-gambling-industry-2011-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/crowdpark-raises-6-millionThe Biggest Betting Game On Facebook Just Raised $6 Millionhttp://www.businessinsider.com/crowdpark-raises-6-million
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:00:00 -0400Zachary Lichaa
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4e984c0e69bedde41100000f/crowdpark.jpg" border="0" alt="Crowdpark" /></p><p><a href="http://www.crowdpark.net/">Crowdpark</a> the most popular betting game on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/facebook" class="hidden_link">Facebook</a> with over 1 million users, just raised $6 million from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/target" class="hidden_link">Target</a> Partners and Earlybird Venture Capital.</p>
<p>The social betting platform lets users wager virtual currency on the outcomes of real-life events, like sports games and elections.</p>
<p>Based in Berlin, Crowdpark just introduced its next generation "dynamic betting" technology, which serves as a real-time marketplace for these types of bets.&nbsp; Information will update odds similarly to how share prices fluctuate on the NASDAQ.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span>Crowdpark says it will use the money to improve the product, create new games, and hire talent.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/crowdpark-raises-6-million#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/full-tilt-poker-stealing-players-winnings-2011-9Full Tilt Poker Accused Of Stealing $440 Million Of Players' Winnings In Giant "Ponzi Scheme"http://www.businessinsider.com/full-tilt-poker-stealing-players-winnings-2011-9
Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:12:00 -0400Dashiell Bennett
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4deffe904bd7c8c938070000-399-299/aces-cards-poker-gambling.png" border="0" alt="aces cards poker gambling" width="399" height="299" /></p><p>The US Attorney's office in Manhattan has accused the board members of Full Tilt Poker of pocketing more than $440 million worth of winnings that should have been paid out to players.</p>
<p>Those board members include champion poker players Howard Lederer and Christopher &ldquo;Jesus&rdquo; Ferguson.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, Full Tilt's domains and bank accounts were seized by the Justice Department as part of investigation into illegal online gambling.</p>
<p>Today's filing is an amendment to the forfeiture complaint, <strong><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2011/09/20/feds-call-full-tilt-poker-a-massive-ponzi-scheme/">claiming that the company did not keep enough money on hand to actually pay players their winnings</a>,</strong> but instead directed those funds to members of the board.</p>
<p>The owners are <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904106704576582741398633386.html">accused of continuing to pay themselves out of player winnings</a>, even after the Justice Department had seized millions in company assets and made it nearly impossible to play players back.</p>
<p>All the while, the company assured poker players that their money was safe in Full Tilt accounts.</p>
<p>In 2008, Full Tilt told players that their playing accounts were kept totally separate from the company's operations accounts, but that was never the case.</p>
<p>The complaint alleges that in March of this year, <strong>Full Tilt Poker owed players around the world $390 million, including $150 million in the U.S., but had only $60 million in its bank accounts.</strong></p>
<p>According to the DOJ, the owners were informed of June that the company could not afford "a run on the bank" of more than $6 million. Yet, the company continued to take new deposits from international players.</p>
<p>Compounding the problems were Full Tilt's issues with its (illegal) payment processing system. The company was unable to withdraw money from U.S. bank accounts to fund player gambling accounts. However, they continued to credit more than $130 million in player funds (that it never actually accepted) simply to maintain the image of financial stability.</p>
<p>The company has been charged with money laundering and other civil crimes related to running an online gambling operation. Federal law makes it illegal to process financial transactions related to gambling.</p>
<p>Full Tilt and other poker companies, Absolute Poker and PokerStars.net, were accused of setting up phony transactions and companies in order to process and hide gambling activity.</p>
<p>Full Tilt also <a href="http://www.casinotimes.co.uk/poker/news/2011/9/behind-closed-doors-20163436.html">faced a hearing in the UK today</a>, that could result in the company having its gambling license revoked. No updates have released from that hearing, which was not open to the public.</p>
<div id="pm77" class="liveblog"><hr />
<h6 class="byline"><span class="date">1:52pm</span><span class="pipe"> | </span><a href="#pm77">NOT a ponzi scheme.</a></h6>
</div>
<p>After thinking about it some more, we've decided that calling this a "ponzi scheme," while effective PR, is not accurate. In any poker game, winners are paid by the money put in by the losers. In that sense, all gambling is a ponzi scheme, as there is <em>no</em> scenario in which everyone walks away with a profit. However, in the very specific sense of a fraudulent investment where first investors take their profits from new investors, that's not what happened here.</p>
<p>It's not even clear that Full Tilt's board committed theft or embezzlement (which is why they have NOT been charged with that.) The truth is that there are no regulations about how much cash a game operator must have available for withdrawals or how different accounts must be segregated. That's because the entire operation itself is illegal (according to the government) and not subject to the strict gaming laws of a place like Nevada. The company did business running games and paying winners for years, with few problems for those who wanted their money back.</p>
<p>What Full Tilt may have done &ndash; and this is at the heart of the DOJ complaint &ndash; is commit fraud, by lying to players about the status of their money and accounts. They told players that all their funds were sitting in a segregated bank accounts ready for withdrawal at any time. That was not true and gave a misleading picture of the financial stability of the company.</p>
<p>Full Title actively misled and deceived players about the nature of the business and continued to enrich themselves (allegedly) even after the criminal complaints made it impossible for players to retrieve their money. That may be dishonest and even criminal, but that doesn't make it a ponzi scheme.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/full-tilt-poker-stealing-players-winnings-2011-9#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/the-microsoft-investor-jul-11-2011-7THE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: While Ballmer Jokes That Windows Phone Is "Tiny", Mango Slips To A Christmas Launch (MSFT)http://www.businessinsider.com/the-microsoft-investor-jul-11-2011-7
Tue, 12 Jul 2011 12:23:33 -0400Heather Leonard
<p><em><strong>The <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/microsoft">Microsoft</a> Investor</strong> is a daily report from SAI. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-investor-newsletter-2010-4">Sign up here to receive it by email</a>.</em></p>
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<p><strong><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4dc80d8bcadcbbaa70120000/windows-phone-7-mango-title-image.jpg" border="0" alt="windows phone 7 mango title image" /><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/microsoft">MSFT</a> Off With The Markets </strong><br />Stocks are bobbing along in early trading as European debt fears hang over the markets. Shares of MSFT are down with the rest of technology. Upcoming catalysts include second calendar quarter results to be released the third week in July; the company's Analyst Day at its new developer conference (BUILD) on September 14th; <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/windows-phone-7">Windows Phone 7</a> / Mango adoption with hardware partner <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/nokia">Nokia</a>; strides against current market leaders in cloud computing; entrance in the tablet market at some point; making money in the online business, including integration of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/skype">Skype</a> and improving the search / display business; and continued evolution of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/kinect">Kinect</a> and next generation <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/xbox">Xbox</a> console. The stock currently trades at <a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0Ak6JroN3wjs9dDZyTnp5R2hzcXFaM2FYU2R5Yy10Ymc&amp;hl=en&amp;gid=4">8x Enterprise Value / TTM Free Cash Flow</a>, inexpensive compared to historical trading multiples.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://allthingsd.com/20110712/steve-ballmers-dr-hyde-and-mr-jekyl/">The Two Sides Of Steve Ballmer</a> (AllThingsDigital)</strong><br />Whenever CEO <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/steve-ballmer">Steve Ballmer</a> is going to speak at a major public event, people have two simultaneous reactions; both excited anticipation and dread that chances are high that he&rsquo;ll say something controversial. Which is what happened at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference this week. Most effective was his acknowledgment of the "tiny" market share of <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/windows-phone-7">Windows Phone 7</a>. The most ineffective was pretending that <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/apple">Apple</a> does not exist by belittling the competitor&rsquo;s weakest point.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/12/skype-the-inside-story-of-the-boffo-8-5-billion-deal">Inside The Skype Deal And Creating $6 Billion In Two Years</a> (Fortune)</strong><br />In September 2009, Silver Lake Partners and venture firm Andreessen-Horowitz bought <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/skype">Skype</a> from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/ebay">eBay</a>, where it had become a wildly popular yet deeply troubled tech company. The value of that deal was $2.75 billion. In May 2011 the new owners announced that they were selling the company to Microsoft for $8.5 billion.<em> </em>Six billion dollars in less than two years. The key to that success? Winning over the company's mercurial founders, Niklas Zennstr&ouml;m and Janus Friis, who owned the rights to the software underlying the service.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2011/07/11/consumers-spent-more-on-digital-online-games-in-q1/">Microsoft Positioned As Online Gaming Leader With Xbox And Kinect</a> (VentureBeat)</strong><br />Consumers spent a total of $5.9 billion on both physical and digital online games in the first quarter, up 1.5% from a year ago, according to NPD. Consumers spent $2.03 billion in new video game console and PC software in the first quarter, compared to $2.26 billion a year ago. And it appears that the <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/xbox">Xbox</a> 360 is the console to go with if you want a huge online community; Microsoft moved roughly twice as many online-capable games as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/sony">Sony's</a> PS3. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/xbox-360-on-windows-8-2011-7">And soon you'll be able to play Xbox on your PC</a>.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-12/yell-forms-alliance-with-microsoft-to-deliver-online-advertising.html">Bing Partners With U.K.-Based Classified Advertising Publisher</a> (<a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/bloomberg">Bloomberg</a>)</strong><br />Yell Group, a U.K. classified advertising publisher, is partnering with Microsoft to provide online services. Yell will use Microsoft&rsquo;s suite of cloud-computing tools, including Office 365, to create a market for small- and medium-sized businesses. Results from Yell's online directory will appear on <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/bing">Bing</a>. The tie-up with Microsoft is part of a strategy to expand Yell&rsquo;s online operation as revenue from print advertising drops. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsofts-best-weapon-against-google-apps-2011-7">Microsoft is amassing an awesome army of partners to take on Google Apps</a>.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.wpcentral.com/ballmer-mango-phones-coming-christmas">Mango Release Date Slips From Fall To Christmas</a> (WP Central)</strong><br />At the Imagine Cup 2011, Steve Ballmer gave his usual keynote speech where he finally gave a nod to the <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/windows">Windows</a> Phone and dropped some info regarding the second generation Mango phones. Most notably that consumers should expect the phones to come out this Christmas. Some folks are interpreting his remarks as a sign of slippage on the release, noting how Christmas is more winter than fall.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-microsoft-investor-jul-11-2011-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/full-tilt-poker-has-their-gambling-license-suspended-2011-6Full Tilt Poker Has Their Gambling License Suspended http://www.businessinsider.com/full-tilt-poker-has-their-gambling-license-suspended-2011-6
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:23:01 -0400Associated Press
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4da704f4cadcbb8879060000-417-313/online-poker-gambling.jpg" border="0" alt="online poker gambling" width="417" height="313" /></p><p>LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; Casino regulators on the British Channel Islands have suspended the gambling license of Full Tilt Poker, halting the company's online card games and intensifying its legal problems in the United States.</p>
<p>The Alderney Gambling Control Commission said Wednesday that it is immediately suspending Full Tilt's license after an investigation prompted by earlier indictments accusing company executives and associates of bank fraud, money laundering and other crimes.</p>
<p>The commission says the investigation has shown that Full Tilt employees and associates have operated contrary to its gambling laws. Full Tilt officials did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. A site that tracks online poker traffic shows no users playing on Full Tilt for real money, down from an average of 9,000 at any given moment during the past week.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/full-tilt-poker-has-their-gambling-license-suspended-2011-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/maradona-the9-limited-winning-goal-2011-6Maradona Sues NASDAQ-Listed Chinese Game Company For Using His Image Without Asking (NCTY)http://www.businessinsider.com/maradona-the9-limited-winning-goal-2011-6
Thu, 02 Jun 2011 06:48:34 -0400Gus Lubin
<p>A $183-million Chinese online game company allegedly used Diego Maradona's face on the game "Winning Goal" without his permission, according to <a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2011-06/02/content_12632482.htm">China Daily</a>.</p>
<p>NASDAQ-listed The9 Limited claims it was cheated by a sports agent, <span style="width: 630px;">Lu Weiping, who received $250,000 for signing Maradona to a contract.</span></p>
<p>Maradona rejected an apology letter from The9 Limited as "insincere" and promised to pursue the case in court.</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4de7684f49e2aecd3b090000/image.jpg" border="0" alt="image" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/maradona-the9-limited-winning-goal-2011-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/the-museum-of-soviet-arcade-games-2011-5A Journey Into The Underworld Of Soviet Arcade Gameshttp://www.businessinsider.com/the-museum-of-soviet-arcade-games-2011-5
Thu, 12 May 2011 16:52:00 -0400Connal Hughes
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169256342/"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3dea49e2ae1056130000-400-300/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="400" height="300" /></a>Back in 2007 I read <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2007/06/06/soviet-arcade-games-.html" target="_blank" title="BoingBoing Article">an article on BoingBoing</a> about a small &ldquo;museum&rdquo; of Soviet-era Video Games that had been opened by a couple of students in the basement of a small technical university about 30 minutes outside the center of Moscow. The article was accompanied by awesome pictures of hulking consoles that looked like they were designed with the same sense of fun that an engineer would use to construct a hospital waiting room.</p>
<p>It was an amazing article but as I browsed the collection I never imagined that two years later my wife and I would find ourselves descending into the <em>Ploshchad Revolyutsii</em> Metro station, about to take that 30 minute ride to the outskirts of Moscow.</p>
<p><strong>It was only 6:30 in the evening,</strong> but this was December and Moscow had already been dark for two hours. We were originally scheduled to spend four nights in the city, but transportation complications caused by the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8383960.stm" target="_blank" title="BBC: Train Bombing">bombing of the train line</a> between St. Petersburg and Moscow delayed our arrival and gave us only a day and a half in the city. We spent that morning running around to see as much as we could: Red Square, St. Basil&rsquo;s Cathedral, Lenin&rsquo;s Tomb, The Kremlin&hellip; we were exhausted but as we navigated the busy subway we were probably more excited than we&rsquo;d been all day.</p>
<p>To be honest, we really weren&rsquo;t sure what to expect. The museum seemed amazing, but the small print was a little strange: It was only open two or three days a week, and not until 7:30 at night. The brief articles I&rsquo;d read never mentioned anyone else being in the museum, so we wondered if the reporters had arranged private tours or we were about to visit a guy sitting by himself in a basement. Regardless, we figured that whatever happened it would be an amusing adventure.</p>
<p>It was only about a five minute walk from the subway to the school, a brick building on the corner that didn&rsquo;t look much different from the apartments that surrounded it. There were a few uneven steps leading up to a metal door where a small, unlit sign identified it, in Cyrillic, as the Moscow State Technical University. We walked through the door and found ourselves in a small lobby facing a guard sitting behind a desk a few feet away. Just to the right of the guard was a flight of stairs heading down. Not speaking any Russian, we gestured to the basement and said &ldquo;Here to see the museum?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;музей?&rdquo; ( muz-yey?) he replied, which sounded close enough and we nodded vigorously. He got on the phone and in a minute an excitable guy with a wild head of hair came hustling up the stairs. Speaking to us quickly and only in Russian, he buzzed us through the turnstile and led us downstairs.</p>
<p>So far this article has been text-heavy, which is bad form, but was intentional. I wanted to do my best to recreate the experience of walking into the museum because Imagineers could not have done a better job of designing the atmosphere.</p>
<p>These are the stairs leading down to the basement:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168845933/" title="The stairs down to the Museum" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc37b84bd7c8c8741e0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>This is the hallway that leads to the museum: Teal&nbsp;cinder block walls with a dirty red tile floor&nbsp;(that&rsquo;s not the door, the actual door is behind us).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168840951/" title="Hallway outside the Museum" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc37c649e2ae1e47200000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>The photo below is inside the museum, looking back at the front door. It&rsquo;s a military-grade metal door with locking levers in each corner. Those aren&rsquo;t for show, that&rsquo;s still how the door is opened and closed. Also the chipped bricks and general structural decay was consistent throughout the space. And yes, those are florescently lit yellow and pink walls.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169441050/" title="Welcome to the Museum" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc37db49e2aee54a180000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="301" height="402" /></a></p>
<p>I wish I had done a better job of documenting every step of the process, but even the best photos in the world can&rsquo;t do it justice as they don&rsquo;t capture the atmosphere, which was <em>perfect.</em> As soon as you walk in you feel like you&rsquo;ve discovered some secret bunker of fun and we couldn&rsquo;t wait to start trying everything.</p>
<p>This is the main room that you walk into:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168447373/" title="One of the 4 rooms" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc38314bd7c8a176110000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="399" /></a></p>
<p>Alexander Stakhanov, the guy who met us at the door and one of the four people that started this museum, gave us a quick rundown about which machines work and which don&rsquo;t, how to put coins in (some are finnicky) and the general lay of the land. We actually understood most of it, though he was speaking rapidly and entirely in Russian. It wasn&rsquo;t until after he was done and I said to Anjel &ldquo;maybe we can leave our coats here&rdquo; that he realized that we were American.</p>
<p>He apologized for being able to speak so little English and we apologized for not being able to speak <em>any </em>Russian. He ran through a few of the key points again, handed us each a small plastic cup of 15-Kopek coins and excused himself to duck into the other room. At this point it was just a little after 7:30 and we were the only ones there. I took as many photos as I could before I just had to put down the camera and start playing.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc384ecadcbbfb63090000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="301" height="402" />This was one of the first games we tried. It&rsquo;s called &ldquo;Репка Силомер&rdquo; (<em>Repka Silomer</em>)&nbsp;or &ldquo;Turnip Strength Tester.&rdquo; Later that night, we showed the photos to our homestay host, hoping for some sort of explanation. She had never played the game but told us that the concept was based on an old Russian children&rsquo;s story.</p>
<p>The tale is called &ldquo;The Giant Turnip&rdquo; and is about a family who planted a turnip that grew so large that they couldn&rsquo;t get it out of the ground. The Old Man tries pulling on it, but it won&rsquo;t budge. The Old Woman grabs on to him, but still no luck. Then the Granddaughter grabs hold, the dog, the cat and finally, with the help of the mouse they&rsquo;re able to pull it out.</p>
<p>It didn&rsquo;t seem like the most exciting children&rsquo;s story until I looked into it and found that in the original Russian it&rsquo;s much more lyrical and as the verses progress it almost becomes a tongue twister. The final line reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168471863/"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc38aaccd1d5c96a3c0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="301" height="401" /></a>Myshka za koshku, koshka za Zhuchku, Zhuchka za vnuchku, vnuchka za babku, babka za dedku, dedka za repku, tyanut-potyanut&ndash;vytyanuli repku</p>
<p><em>(&ldquo;The mouse took hold of the cat, the cat took hold of the dog, the dog took hold of the granddaughter, the granddaughter took hold of the old woman, the old woman took hold of the old man, the old man took hold of the turnip, they pulled and pulled&ndash;and finally&ndash;out came the turnip!&rdquo;)</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>To play this fairy tale adaptation you simply pull on the handle and the counter displays &ldquo;Ваша сила&rdquo; (<em>vasha sila</em> -&nbsp;your strength). Since I wasn&rsquo;t sure how rough one should be with a 20 year old video game, my first pull was pretty tentative which resulted in a 67 and the achievement of &ldquo;Mouse&rdquo; level (pathetic). Having been duly slapped down by the game I tried again, this time with one foot braced on the machine and pulling as hard as I could (as my wife demonstrates, above). That netted me a 161 and got me up to &ldquo;Dog&rdquo; level &ndash; two up from Mouse but still one step below the little girl (sigh).</p>
<p>This was Anjel&rsquo;s favorite game: &ldquo;подводная лодка&rdquo; (<em>Podvodaya Lodnka </em> which translates to &ldquo;submarine&rdquo; or, literally, &ldquo;underwater boat&rdquo;).&nbsp;It was a combination of a mechanically moving sea floor and electronic sights and torpedoes.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169294338/" title="Anjel plays "><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc39054bd7c8c474190000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="200" height="271" /></a></p>
<p>This was a great 2 player game called &ldquo;торпедная атака&rdquo; (<em>Torpednaya Ataka</em> -&nbsp;Torpedo Attack).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168541977/" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc39604bd7c898763a0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>It was also a combination of physical and electronic elements. Ships move slowly back and forth (like ducks in a shooting gallery) while you train your sights on them and try to time your torpedo shots to intercept them. There was also a little viewing window where your buddies could watch you play (though it was much cooler looking through the sights)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169301252/" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3973cadcbbed633b0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>When the game is being played the background is much darker and the ships are just silhouetted against the it. When you hit a ship the background goes completely black and&nbsp;there&rsquo;s an awesome red &ldquo;explosion&rdquo; light with accompanying sound effect. At some point (if you&rsquo;ve sunk enough ships?) it even switches to a &ldquo;night&rdquo; mode where all the lights turn off except for an actual spotlight (no wider than one ship) that shines out from your sights &ndash; increasing the difficulty significantly.</p>
<p>This next one is a racing game called &ldquo;Магистраль&rdquo; (Magistral)&nbsp;which is very similar to Grand Prix for the Atari 2600 except the track runs vertically and the other cars move back and forth across the road (apparently veering constantly and madly).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169310974/" title="DSCN9306" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2669/4169310974_2890c15a26.jpg" border="0" alt="DSCN9306" width="300" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>This game is kind of the poster boy of the museum and seeing it in person was (embarrassingly?) very similar to the first time one sees a ubiquitous but famous piece of art in person: <em>&ldquo;wow, this is <span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">the</span> </span>Mona Lisa.&rdquo;</em> Each driver is on their own parallel racetrack and crashing into one of the computer cars on the track momentarily stops you. There&rsquo;s actually a <a href="http://magistral.15kop.ru/game/" target="_blank" title="Video Game Plays You!">playable version of this game online</a> on the museum&rsquo;s website but, as with most emulators, it captures the spirit, but not the soul.</p>
<p>The gas pedal has a satisfying spring action to it and the steering wheels on the console are bare metal, lacking the plastic covering that Pole Position had. Like most of these games, though you play them gingerly at first, the only way to win is to really whip the wheel side to side to avoid the other cars. It&rsquo;s awesomely satisfying.</p>
<p>There&rsquo;s also a large floating head that appears when the game is not being played.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168548935/" title="The Floating Head" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc39fdccd1d5d76a4a0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>This next one didn&rsquo;t seem to be working too well, or we were just really bad at it. It&rsquo;s called &ldquo;Air Fight&rdquo; (воздушный бой -&nbsp;<em>vozdushnyi boy</em>).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168459163/" class="flickr-image alignnone"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3a08ccd1d5c16c310000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>I could explain it but it&rsquo;s pretty straightforward and this video can do most of the heavy lifting.</p>
<p>This is a children&rsquo;s turkey ride. I did not climb on, for fear of breaking it, but it did work. Between the bright colors, industrial-looking structural base and years of wear, it falls into that &ldquo;uncanny valley&rdquo; between whimsical and terrifying.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168554407/" title="Turkey Ride!" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3a1249e2aeec4a2d0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="399" /></a></p>
<p>We&rsquo;d been wandering around the museum for 15 minutes or so when another couple showed up, followed shortly by another &ndash; and within a few minutes, our entire experience had changed. As I mentioned before, the previous articles I read gave the impression that it was only the reporter in the museum. Maybe it was empty because the museum was relatively new, or because a private viewing had been arranged, but by the time we had been there for 30 minutes, the place was packed with about 20 people.</p>
<p>The air was filled with the sounds of games and it was exactly like walking into any bustling arcade. It made the whole experience even more fun as people weren&rsquo;t visiting the museum with some sort of ironic detachment or casually looking around &ndash; everyone was there playing games and having a blast.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168644355/" title="Having fun on a Wednesday night" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3a22ccd1d5b26c160000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="400" height="299" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169338304/" title="The arcade comes to life" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3a34cadcbbc665150000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>This next one was a skill crane game that wasn&rsquo;t working. &ldquo;зонд&rdquo; (<em>zond</em>)&nbsp;translates to &ldquo;probe&rdquo; and I&rsquo;m hoping the word has different connotations in Russian as that&rsquo;s the least playful skill crane name I&rsquo;ve ever heard. <em>(Thanks to a helpful commenter, we now know that &ldquo;Zond&rdquo; was the&nbsp;name of&nbsp;an unmanned&nbsp;Soviet space program&nbsp;that ran from 1964 to 1970.)</em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169435164/" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3a41ccd1d5b26c190000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>These were some of the prizes inside:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169449738/" title="Prizes from the " class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3a4eccd1d5ac6c3c0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4218033649/">This video shows</a> &ldquo;Winter Hunt&rdquo; (Зимняя охота &ndash; <em>Zimniaya ohota</em>). Different animals light up and move across the board while you shoot them with a light sensitive rifle. After a first round of hitting almost nothing, Anjel dialed in the sights and went to town, throwing down a score of 240. Here&rsquo;s a video of some of the ass-kicking in progress:</p>
<p>Not surprisingly the video setting on my point-and-shoot camera distorts things a little bit. The running animal doesn&rsquo;t appear as a big circle of light, instead you see the lit-up silhouette of the animal. When I zoom in near the end of the video you can see what the animals look like to the right and left of the one that&rsquo;s lit up.</p>
<p>This is &ldquo;авторалли&rdquo; (<em>avtoralli</em> -&nbsp;Auto Rally). Don&rsquo;t let the beige exterior fool you, this is a fast paced game.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168457319/" class="flickr-image alignnone"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3a7e49e2ae30520e0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>You and a buddy race cars around a driving area littered with oil slicks and&nbsp;obstacles&nbsp;that slow you down. There are a&nbsp;number of flags on the board, most of which are red, one of which is green. The object is to be the first to reach the green colored flag, thereby winning the number of points on the flag.</p>
<p>As soon as one person reaches the flag they get the points, the flag turns red and another flag lights up as green. There&rsquo;s a bit of strategy involved as the point values differ. Some flags are 6-pointers, others just 1. If there&rsquo;s a 1-pointer all the way across the board, it might not be worth racing all the way over for it. The 7-pointer in the middle is clearly the jackpot.</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3c34cadcbba56b220000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="400" /></p>
<p>We didn&rsquo;t actually play this next game. It was really hard to figure out and seemed to somehow involving knowing and choosing correct traffic signs. After the fact we learned that &ldquo;викморина&rdquo; (<em>viktorina</em>)&nbsp;translates to &ldquo;quiz&rdquo; &ndash; in this case one involving traffic signs. Exactly what it looked like.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169230438/" title="DSCN9236" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3c4f4bd7c86f7c0f0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="400" height="299" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169258658/" title="DSCN9257" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3c67cadcbba8691b0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="399" height="299" /></a></p>
<p>This next one was a fantastic game that we only played once &ndash; for good reason. &ldquo;Баскетбол&rdquo; (Basketball) consists of&nbsp;a large plastic dome with nets at either end and a small rubber ball. The &ldquo;court&rdquo; consists of 15 divots with 2 bumpers at the bottom (one for the Red Team, one for the Blue). Each divot is numbered and the object is to launch the ball into the opponent&rsquo;s basket by pressing the button of whatever divot the ball is in (which triggers the bumper, which launches the ball).</p>
<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3c904bd7c8787c190000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="301" height="402" /></p>
<p>It is fantastically fast paced and ridiculously competitive and luckily the first game ended in a 12-12 tie. Anjel and I looked at each other and sort of laughed saying &ldquo;ha ha, that was fun&hellip; we should play something else.&rdquo; I think we both saw that this could easily become a battleground game that would have quickly turned into a best 2-out-of-3, 3-out-of-5&hellip; situation.</p>
<p>This next one is probably my favorite game in terms of design. If I could have one game to sit at home as a playable piece of art it would probably be this one. It looks like it was designed as a companion to the Soviet space program.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169276430/" title="Game of Pong variations" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3ca149e2ae1056030000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>It&rsquo;s called &ldquo;теле-спорт&rdquo;&nbsp;(tele-sport) and&nbsp;features 5 different variants of pong.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168519989/" title="Pong game selector" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3cba49e2ae2c522a0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>We played Soccer where each person controls two &ldquo;players&rdquo; on the game board: the Goalie and the-guy-that-does-everything-else (we&rsquo;ll call him the Forward). Moving the joystick up and down movies the Goalie and the Forward up and down in sync. Moving the joystick right and left moves the Forward back and forth across the field, but the Goalie stays in the same plane in front of the net. If the ball hits the Forward (or Goalie) from behind it will pass through (slowing and changing direction slightly). If it hits them from in front, it bounces off like a standard pong game.</p>
<p>This next one was a little strange. The title of the game is &ldquo;Городки&rdquo; (<em>gorodki</em>) which translates to &ldquo;little structures.&rdquo; On the screen there&rsquo;s a white cube that moves back and forth. Inside the white cube are simple patterns made up of black tiles which are represented 3-dimensionally in designs across the front of the game.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168517829/" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3cc449e2ae0056080000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>The game is more than a little cryptic so I had to send my Russian friend Ilya an email asking for a little help with the explanation. According to him the mechanics are based on an old Russian game. He says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The goal is to knock out those figures by hurling a wood stick about 5&rsquo; tall and the thickness of a shovel stock. It&rsquo;s a variation of Bowling and the score depends of how many pieces you knocked out with one strike. I never played it myself but have seen people playing it in a park when I was about 7 years old.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As if that didn&rsquo;t answer all the questions I might have he went on to add: &ldquo;the name &lsquo;<em>gorodki</em>&lsquo; derives from Russian &lsquo;<em>gorod</em>&lsquo; (town or city) which derived from old Russian word &lsquo;<em>gorodit</em>&lsquo; (with a soft T) which means to built , so &ldquo;<em>gorodki</em>&rdquo; means &ldquo;little structures.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Each level has a different formation, and each formation has a name: Canon, Star,&nbsp;Water Well,&nbsp;Artillery,&nbsp;Machine Gun Hole,&nbsp;Sentries,&nbsp;Shooting Range,&nbsp;Fork,&nbsp;Arrow,&nbsp;Jack shaft,&nbsp;Racquet,&nbsp;Cray fish,&nbsp;Sickle,&nbsp;Airplane,&nbsp;and Envelope.</p>
<p>In the arcade version of the game the player has a right-and-left moving joystick with a red button on top that releases a spinning stick. The spinning stick can&rsquo;t be steered once you&rsquo;ve sent it on its way. The object is to hit each of the black tiles in the white cube. When you&rsquo;ve destroyed all the tiles it moves you on to the next level (new formation). <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4218792184/">I recorded a video of this one</a> as it was a little hard to understand &ndash; plus it had a neat &ldquo;theme song&rdquo; when the game starts and ends.</p>
<p>This is &ldquo;Tankodrome&rdquo; (Танкодром). Either it wasn&rsquo;t working right or we just couldn&rsquo;t figure it out.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169286120/" class="flickr-image alignnone"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3cd24bd7c86a7c190000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>The right lever moved the tank by the old &ldquo;magnet under the gameboard&rdquo; technique. The other was (we think) some sort of fire lever, but anything that happened seemed to be by chance, rather than our own efforts. There was one &ldquo;danger zone&rdquo; that you drive through and cause a counter to rapidly scroll up to 50 in a cool electro-mechanical way &ndash; though its <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4218030081/">effect on gameplay was unclear</a>.</p>
<p>It was pointed out in the articles I&rsquo;d read that none of these games featured a high-score list. This originally jumped out to me as a fantastic cultural difference &ndash; you could be rewarded for a high score by a free game, but in the spirit of Communism, there was no recognition of individual achievement. Before we visited the museum I would usually mention that aspect of the games to friends, but to be honest while we were there I completely forgot about it and in fact never noticed the lack of a high-score board.</p>
<p>Most of these games were either entirely mechanical (foosball, basketball) or a combination of mechanical and electronic elements (Torpedo Attack, Submarine) and even the American versions of those types of games didn&rsquo;t necessarily have high-score lists. There were a couple of games that could have had a list (and perhaps didn&rsquo;t for ideological reasons) but on the whole it wasn&rsquo;t as glaring a difference as I had expected.</p>
<p>Still, it&rsquo;s an interesting little difference between Soviet and American gaming.</p>
<p>Below is another mystery machine. The title translates roughly to &ldquo;Information.&rdquo;&nbsp;It seemed to be a collection of schematics, and was fantastically ominous but we couldn&rsquo;t make any sense of it. After we left I was bummed that I didn&rsquo;t ask more about it, but there was a lot to see at the time. Instead I sent an email to Ilya&rsquo;s brother Alexi (who still lives in Moscow and who we spent an afternoon with while we were there) to ask him about it.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168448347/" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3cf2ccd1d58a72250000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="400" /></a></p>
<p>He confirmed that it was not in fact a game, and was a collection of various diagrams and charts, like the one below of &ldquo;motorized infantry company in defense.&rdquo;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169352366/" title="Detail of " class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3d0549e2ae0a560e0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>Finally, I&rsquo;ll end with the most utilitarian soda machine ever.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4168732015/" title="DSCN9409" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3d14cadcbba16b2e0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="301" height="402" /></a></p>
<p>&ldquo;Газированная вода&rdquo; (<em>gazirovannaya voda</em>) translates to &ldquo;sparkling water.&rdquo;&nbsp;Though not exactly a game, these used to be a common sight on the streets of Moscow. There are three options: 1 Kopek for plain soda water and two 3-Kopec options for flavored soda.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/4169593572/" title="DSCN9451" class="flickr-image aligncenter"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3d364bd7c8647c1f0000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>In the top photo you can see the slot in the middle of the machine where the soda was dispensed. Each machine would have a glass (an actual <em>glass</em> glass) that would be used by everyone. The soda came out of the left side. On the right side, there was a small bit of water that could be used to &ldquo;rinse&rdquo; the glass. Alexander said that when he was a child his parents had forbidden him from ever drinking from the machines &ndash; which was probably sound advice.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4dcc3ffeccd1d5387a050000/soviet-museum.jpg" border="0" alt="Soviet Museum" width="300" height="374" />And with that, having spent almost two hours playing games and taking pictures, we finally headed back into the cold Russian night to make&nbsp;our way back home. It was a fantastic experience and though I don&rsquo;t know that one can justify a trip to Moscow <em>solely</em> to visit the museum, if you find yourself in the city I would absolutely recommend giving it just as much weight as any other tourist destination.</p>
<p>The entrance fee was 300 rubles (about $10 USD) and was 100% worth it &ndash; especially considering that the guys that run the museum have put countless hours into getting these machine up and running again. You can visit the <a href="http://www.15kop.ru/en/" target="_blank" title="Museum website">museum website here</a>, though the English language version of the site doesn&rsquo;t have nearly as much content as the Russian.</p>
<p>You can click here to see our complete <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/sets/72157622871645087/" target="_blank" title="Museum of Soviet Arcade Games">Flickr set of photos from the Museum of Soviet Arcade Games</a>.</p>
<p>There were also a number of fantastic signs and posters around the museum like the one below. You can click here to see our complete <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dangerous_business/sets/72157623077517590/" target="_blank" title="Soviet Arcade Posters">Flickr set of Soviet Video Game Posters</a>.</p>
<p><em>This <a href="http://adangerousbusiness.com/2010/01/05/the-museum-of-soviet-video-games/">post</a> originally appeared at <a href="http://adangerousbusiness.com">A Dangerous Business</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><em><a href="http://adangerousbusiness.com/2010/02/15/is-this-enough-fat-travels-in-mongolia/">"Is this enough fat?": Travels in Mongolia</a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><em><a href="http://adangerousbusiness.com/2010/05/19/thorong-la-pass-nepal-17769-feet/">Crossing Thorong La Pass, Nepal : 17,769 feet</a></em></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><em><a href="http://adangerousbusiness.com/2010/06/13/russian-zoological-museum/">Florescent Lights and Dead Animals : The Russian Zoological Museum</a></em></li>
</ul><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-museum-of-soviet-arcade-games-2011-5#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-players-react-to-shutdown-2011-4Online Players React To The FBI's Poker Crackdownhttp://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-players-react-to-shutdown-2011-4
Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:03:00 -0400Corey Nachman
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4dac35cf4bd7c882651f0000-400-300/poker-game.jpg" border="0" alt="poker game" width="400" height="300" /></p><p>Business Insider was able to talk in-depth with three online poker players that had accounts with at least one of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-websites-fraud-2011-4">websites that got shutdown</a> by the FBI this past Friday.</p>
<p>We asked the players &mdash; who operate at varying levels of experience and stakes &mdash; if they had any expectation of something like this happening, if they had any money tied up within the system that they could not currently access, any stories they have heard any harrowing tales from other online poker players.</p>
<p>* * * * *</p>
<p><em>"Kyle" is a professional poker player who plays most of his poker online. It's a significant portion of his living, and he has gone on to the World Series of Poker a few times.</em></p>
<p><strong>Which online poker sites were you signed up with?</strong></p>
<p>I have accounts with Poker Stars and Full Tilt. I joined up with Poker Stars in late 2005, and with Full Tilt in 2006.</p>
<p><strong>Being a professional player, you must know at least a few players that depend on online poker to earn a living.</strong></p>
<p>Oh, no question! This is affecting a lot of people. Some players only do online play, save for the World Series of Poker, and those players may not have a way to get there now since a lot of what they earned is stuck.</p>
<p><strong>Do you know the size or scope of how much money some players have stuck in limbo?</strong></p>
<p>I actually consider myself fortunate in this case, because I had recently cashed out before all of this hit the fan. There's probably $25-30K of my money between both sites that I just can't get to, but I think I'll be able&nbsp; <br />to eventually. It's not an amount that will ruin me, but I'd be lying if I said that amount didn't matter.</p>
<p>As for other players, I obviously can't name names, but there are some players who have well over $1,000,000 tied up.</p>
<p>While we don't really know what's going to happen with our money, PokerStars and Full Tilt continue to tell us that our money is safe. I'm not sure if the Department of Justice is after our money or just the companies' money, but if the government is trying to seize US players' funds, I will be outraged. It would be blatantly stealing hard-earned money out of our pockets.</p>
<p><strong>What's your personal experience like dealing with these poker websites?</strong></p>
<p>I've had concerns with how they go about their business sometimes. For example, Full Tilt has had problems with bank transactions. Sometimes necessary transfers just wouldn't work, the checks that they would write you would bounce every now and then. When one of their checks bounced, they'd apologize and give you a bonus, but that would sometimes take a while. They had so many banking issues, though, and I found it a little shady.</p>
<p><strong>Have you ever questioned the legality of online poker?</strong></p>
<p>I had minimal concerns, even after the passing of the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act). Poker seemed to be within this legal gray area. They clearly found some loopholes within the legislation and didn't really miss a beat, but there was some initial scrambling and panic. The websites had to get a new system together pretty quickly and I thought they had done so fairly successfully.</p>
<p>Poker is a game that requires critical thinking, an advanced understanding in mathematics, and the ability to think clearly under pressure. It's easy to see poker is not a game entirely based on luck, which I think is the biggest problem we have with lawmakers and how it's classified in terms of legality today. Poker needs to be deemed a game of skill, or at least differentiated from something like slot machines or roulette. <br /><br />And while online poker is banned, betting on horse racing over the internet is legal according to the UIGEA. It really makes you think, "Who is actually writing these laws?"</p>
<p>There was no telling that something like this was going to happen, even though I know it has happened in the past. In 2009, the feds seized around $30 million, but these sites make one to two million a day, and more on tournament days, so $30 million is pocket change to them.</p>
<p><strong>Did you suspect of anything fishy in the days leading up to the FBI's seizure?</strong></p>
<p>In hindsight, for sure. Full Tilt has a "double guarantees week" tournament series that they usually do once a year, but sometimes a little less than that. The normal guarantees for tournaments during this week are doubled. So, for example, if the tournament prize pool was normally $25,000,double guarantees week would make it $50,000.</p>
<p>This past month, though, Full Tilt had two weeks of these tournaments, and they were also multi-entry tournaments, which meant players could buy-in up to 4 to 6 times for each tournament, paying rake on every entry. Full Tilt would make a killing on these tournaments since they make so much rake on the buy-ins, and they must have seen something coming if they decided to do two weeks of these promotions in a single month. Full Tilt just made a lot of money from players, and it's probably because they had warning that some trouble was headed their way.</p>
<p><strong>It sounds like Full Tilt has given you more problems than Poker Stars.</strong></p>
<p>Poker Stars is great. They are much more responsive. Their tournaments are actually bigger guarantees because they have a larger player base, but since Friday, they've all gotten a lot smaller. I think U.S. players made up about 25% of their customer base. On May 8th, their SCOOP (Spring Championship of Online Poker) tournament series was going to start, but I am not sure if that's going to change now. We'll probably hear about that soon.</p>
<p><strong>How often are guarantees not met or are just lower than typically expected?</strong></p>
<p>More so recently; the guarantees have all changed. PokerStars has a weekly thing called the Sunday Million, which has a guarantee of $1.5 million. It's now down to $1 million. Full Tilt's F-Top Main Event multi-entry tournament has had guarantees of $3 million in the past. That's also down to $1 million. <strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><strong>Do you think online poker is finished?</strong></p>
<p>It's tough to say they're finished, as they have always found a way around things like this. There's not a ton of overhead in the maintenance and creation of these websites, either. You know those online music sharing programs? It's the same sort of thing. The government could shut down a lot of those websites or programs, but even more will pop up. It's impossible to shut them all down. Plus, the penalties for running websites like this are fairly minimal. Most offenses are five years at most, and the fines are around $250,000, which is practically no money to the people who run these websites.</p>
<p>And even still, though consumer confidence is very low right now, some websites are still accepting memberships.</p>
<p>I do, however, think U.S. customers will be shut out for a while. It's really sad when we are called the freest country in the world, yet we are one of the few countries who have banned internet poker. France is the only other one I know of...but they didn't ban it, they just have a closed market to French players.</p>
<p><strong>Are we going to see any residual affects from this online shutdown trickling down to more well-known and prominent poker events such as the World Series of Poker?</strong></p>
<p>The fields at the World Series are going to be way down. Online gambling sites give out quite a bit of seats at the World Series, and the bankrolling that some of these online players provide is really important to the tournament. The jackpot could be down since the people who are supposed to be bankrolling it have their money stuck in limbo. Less money coming in, less money coming out.</p>
<p><em>Matthew "Spuds" Mackenzie is a graduate student that has played online poker on and off for the past five years.</em></p>
<p><strong>Which online poker sites are you signed up with?</strong></p>
<p>Just Full Tilt Poker. I signed up with them before my senior year of high school.</p>
<p><strong>So you were under 18 when you started playing poker online?</strong></p>
<p>Yeah, but Full Tilt had a method of playing that let you use fake money, so the age didn't matter apparently. You could earn a certain amount of fake money to enter into sweepstakes where you could potentially win prizes, or even real money.</p>
<p><strong>Have you ever questioned the legality of online poker?</strong></p>
<p>I would have thought something like this would have happened earlier, honestly. I knew that gambling outside of any regulated areas was illegal, but millions of people play online poker so that sort of blinded you to it. I found it weird that you could somehow not play roulette, or any other games online, but we could somehow make poker work.</p>
<p><strong>Do you have any money tied up with Full Tilt right now?</strong></p>
<p>Thankfully, I don't, but I know I am one of the lucky ones.</p>
<p><strong>Did you suffer any negative consequences of playing too much online poker?</strong></p>
<p>It affected my grades a little bit. I would often just play poker online instead of studying, but I had netted a nice chunk of change doing it, so it is what it is. I actually don't play all that much any more since I just don't have enough time with my graduate work.</p>
<p><em>George Ross is a regular player of online poker and has aspirations of possibly making it further up the poker world's ladder.</em></p>
<p><strong>Which online poker sites are you signed up with?</strong></p>
<p>Full Tilt and Poker Stars, since they were the two must reputable sites. I started playing there while I was in high school.</p>
<p><strong>Did you see the FBI's seize coming at all?</strong></p>
<p>I didn't think it was inevitable. The UIGEA had caused some panic, but that had calmed down and we forgot about it mostly. Online poker just seemed to be part of this implied "gray area." All the UIGEA really seemed to do was make it difficult to move your money around, but it wasn't impossible. They obviously found ways around all that. I guess that just didn't last.</p>
<p>I was never really worried about the general legality of online poker. I stayed informed about the happenings. I am a member of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and am able to keep up with the legal developments through their newsletters.</p>
<p><strong>The UIGA, according to some, is legislation designed to attack mostly just online poker players. What is your opinion on that?</strong></p>
<p>I think there's some truth to that. It may be in the Government's best interest to regulate it. For starters, every U.S. President in our history has played poker before. (<em>Editors note: [Citation needed]</em>)It's a game of skill that people really enjoy playing. We get a lot of joy out of it, and most of us are not as compulsory as one may think. I resent that online poker is just shut out and labeled as "criminal activity." It's like the marijuana laws in my opinion.</p>
<p>There's billions of dollars just sitting out there in the online poker world and if the U.S. Government were to regulate it, we could really help out this debt that we all seem so concerned with. Plus, it would help out the websites themselves since they'd seem more legit and it would attract more players knowing that what they were doing is totally legal and totally safe. They aren't likely to do it soon since the "old guard" in Washington seems to have some sort of issue with poker and stopping these websites, but it could happen down the line.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-players-react-to-shutdown-2011-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-players-locked-accounts-seized-fbi-crackdown-2011-4Pro Poker Players Have Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars Locked In Accounts Seized By The FBIhttp://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-players-locked-accounts-seized-fbi-crackdown-2011-4
Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:34:00 -0400Dashiell Bennett
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4b746bd40000000000b045f5/scott-hall-online-poker-player.jpg" border="0" alt="scott-hall-online-poker-player" /></p><p>After the FBI <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-websites-fraud-2011-4">indicted the heads of three online poker websites</a> (and seized their domains) on Friday, we speculated about the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-players-get-their-money-back-2011-4">ability of players to retrieve their money</a>, which is now locked in frozen bank accounts.</p>
<p>Players have been frantically trying to get that money, which in the case of those who play professionally, can include accounts in the six figures.</p>
<p>We asked players to send us their stories of success or failure, as they tried to get back the money. Here's what they told us:</p>
<p>It seems that wire transfers from Full Tilt Poker have down since March, which means anyone trying to get money out had to be sent a physical check. One player told us he received a check from an earlier cash out on Saturday. Will it bounce? Seem likely at this point.</p>
<p>Other experiences vary slightly in the details, but the message is still one of general uncertainty. Most players can simply not access their accounts. Those who can have not seen their withdrawal requests denied outright, but a few people have experienced failures when trying get their money back.</p>
<p>(One person who wrote to us had a previously approved transaction declined on Friday, which would seem to indicate that it was blocked by the FBI's crackdown. The person didn't lose the money, but it's now back in a locked account.)</p>
<p>A few of the people we've heard from were able to process a request for withdrawal sometime this weekend and have been told a check is on the way, but are unsure if they will ever see that paper, or be able to cash it once they do.</p>
<p>Some European players have also experienced difficulties, even though online poker is not illegal where they are. The sites insist the money is "safe," but some players are not able to add or withdraw funds &mdash; or gamble it in "real money" games &mdash; because that money is probably in one the seized accounts.</p>
<p><strong>The bottom line is that the 75 accounts that were seized by the FBI, processed pretty much all of the transactions involving U.S.-based poker players.</strong> Until the FBI agrees to release those funds &mdash; which they won't until they're satisfied with the case &mdash; it will be pretty much impossible for the website to write checks, or for checks that have already been written to be honored.</p>
<p>The money <em>is</em> still there (for now), but to those who need it that's small consolation. Online poker has become a full-time job for many people in this country and now their income is locked behind some else's vault. That's why many players have been going on poker message boards, <a href="http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/19/high-stakes-pl-nl/hsnl-xfer-thread-active-reputable-hsnl-community-members-only-504897/">offering to trade their frozen accounts for cash</a> &mdash; right now, often at pennies on the dollar &mdash; simply because they need the money.</p>
<p>* * * * *</p>
<p>Below are few of the emails that we received that we figured were worth re-printing in full.</p>
<ul>
<li>I have been an online poker pro for the last three years, and have my US tax returns for each year to prove it. &nbsp;Currently I have $3500 in my bank account, and $7800 in my full tilt poker account which is frozen. &nbsp;I owe 11k in Federal taxes for my income in 2010. &nbsp;This all came as a huge shock, and I'm not sure how to proceed, or how I'm going to make income now to pay my bills. &nbsp;I'm 27 years old and was hoping to get engaged and married in the next year. &nbsp;2011 was off to a great start poker wise, I feel like I had finally reached a point where I really 'got it,' poker was my job and I was great at it. &nbsp;Now I guess I'm unemployed and broke. &nbsp;Got any connections in the Philadelphia area looking for a 27 year old with no relevant job experience? &nbsp;I didn't think so.&nbsp; </li>
</ul>
<div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western">
<ul>
<li>I just read your <a href="../../online-poker-players-get-their-money-back-2011-4?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+clusterstock+%28ClusterStock%29">article</a> about if online poker players would see their money again and I have a few comments. &nbsp;I have large amounts being held by Poker Stars and Full Tilt at the moment (5 figure accounts), and while I am as frustrated as anyone else about the current climate of online poker, I am still somewhat confident that we will see the money again. &nbsp;That said, all of my withdrawal options are currently closed at the sites. &nbsp;Bank wires haven't been processed since early March (the failed wires were eventually returned to the poker accounts). &nbsp;I did have a check processed by Full Tilt on Friday but I am skeptical if that will ever arrive. &nbsp;I think that the money will eventually be able to be withdrawn, but that process could take up to 6-8 months or longer. &nbsp;I have no inside information about this, just my own educated guesses and experiences with the Neteller fiasco of a few years ago. &nbsp;Some colleagues of mine have reported Poker Stars representatives calling them by phone and their cooperation is encouraging to say the least. &nbsp;All in all, I hope the money I have on those accounts is returned at some point. &nbsp;If not, it would be an egregious error by the US Gov. &nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li>&nbsp;I am an avid online poker player. &nbsp;I played on all 3 of these sites at one point or another, and have money on two of them. &nbsp;I currently have about $3,500 on Full Tilt Poker. &nbsp;I am a college student who built it from $500.00 2 months ago. &nbsp;I also have a good amount of money on PokerStars. &nbsp;As of right now me and my roommate ( professional online gamer with a 6-digit bankroll tied up in this mess and don't know what's going to happen. &nbsp;Yes, 6 digits as in $100k+!!! &nbsp;This morning I had to install an update to the software and now I cannot play because of my US address and IP. &nbsp;I can still sign in and view my account, but when I click Withdraw, a message pops up saying I can't. &nbsp;So all we can really do is wait. &nbsp;I haven't gotten an email back yet, but in an initial message that pops up when you open the program it says "all players money is safe and secure". &nbsp;I don't know what this means, but it's at least a little comforting. &nbsp;I really can't see the FBI and US government asking Full Tilt to completely shut-down because of their location. &nbsp;Us players are just hoping they can settle and don't need to use our money to pay for it. &nbsp;If we can get past that, everything should be fine. &nbsp;Were keeping our heads up here!</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div></div>
<div>Thanks to all who wrote in and <a href="mailto:sportstips@businessinsider.com">keep sending updates</a> if your situation changes (especially if you actually get your money back!)</div>
</div><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-players-locked-accounts-seized-fbi-crackdown-2011-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-players-get-their-money-back-2011-4Will Online Poker Players Ever See Their Money Again?http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-players-get-their-money-back-2011-4
Sat, 16 Apr 2011 10:22:00 -0400Dashiell Bennett
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4d80e1f2cadcbb076b110000-400-303/poker-chips-bet.png" border="0" alt="poker chips bet" width="400" height="303" /></p><p>After <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-websites-fraud-2011-4">the three biggest poker websites in the U.S. were shut down on Friday</a>, the big question that every gambler wants answered is: "What about my money?"</p>
<p>Thousands of players had money on deposit with these websites &mdash; money that had been won or not yet gambled, and still technically belongs to the customers.</p>
<p>With the websites offline, gamblers have now lost access to those accounts. According to posters on some poker forums, a few players were able to request a withdraw of their money before the sites went completely dark, but since that usually involves the printing and mailing of a physical check, no one knows for sure if they'll ever see that cash.</p>
<p>According to the indictments, the Justice Department froze about 75 bank accounts belonging to the three websites. The exact amount of money in each account and who that money actually belongs to is not known at this time. It will probably take a thorough accounting of each company's records to know exactly where it came from and where it should be allocated.</p>
<p>We talked to a spokesperson in the U.S. Attorney's office who would not comment on the specific issue of customer accounts, but did provide a copy of both the criminal indictment and the civil complaint. We haven't yet fully digested the 80-page document, but it does appear that the investigation is targeting the <em>profits</em> made by the poker sites. They have not being asked to forfeit that money given to them for gambling. There's no mention of seizing all assets or forcing the businesses to cease operations completely &mdash; unless that becomes necessary to pay their $3 billion in sought penalties.</p>
<p>In 2007, a similar case was brought against Netteller, an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neovia">online payment processor</a> that was also accused of working with gambling sites. They eventually reached a settlement with the government, paid fines, and stayed in business, and (as far as we can tell) most of their customers <a href="http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/archive/t-499096.html">did get their money back</a>.</p>
<p>The good news for gamblers is that these sites can still operate in the countries they were set up in and can still deal with poker players in other nations where online gambling is not illegal. That means it's highly unlikely that these companies will completely go out of business.</p>
<p>If that's the case, the money is still there. (A <a href="http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28/internet-poker/pokerstars-april-15-statement-2-2-ftp-statement-1020954/">statement from Poker Stars</a> does say the money is safe, but that message seems mostly directed toward European players who can still gamble.) Eventually, the sites will <em>probably</em> be allowed to resume business in U.S., provided they don't offer "real money" games to Americans.</p>
<p>So once the criminal and civil cases are resolved and all the accounting is sorted out, players will likely be able to get their money back... but that could be a long, long time from now.</p>
<p>If there are any poker players out there who had money with one of the affected sites &mdash; Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker &mdash; let us know your experience. Were you able to access your account, request a withdrawal, or actually get a check? We'd love to <a href="mailto:dbennett@businessinsider.com">hear from you</a>.</p>
<p><strong>SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/boy-genius-online-poker-scandal-2011-4">Meet The Boy Genius Who Just Took Down The Online Poker Industry</a></strong></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/online-poker-players-get-their-money-back-2011-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>